1/16/18 – Eph 6:11-12, The Angelic Conflict,
Pt. 5, The Enemy, Pt 2.
Lesson #18-006
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Grace Fellowship Church
Before we
begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, (If You have - Trusted
in Him for Eternal Life), it is important to prepare yourself to: Take-in God’s
Word and/or Participate in a Communion Service, so take a moment to name, cite,
or acknowledge your sins privately, directly to God the Father. This will
assure that you are in fellowship with God the Father & the Holy Spirit’s
convicting ministry will then be able to teach you as the Holy Spirit is the
real teacher.
1 John 1:9 says— “If we confess [simply
name, cite, or acknowledge to God the Father] our sins [known sins], He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
[all unknown & forgotten sins].”
For those of you who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior, please see: The Salvation Message @ the
end of this document.
2 Pet 3:9, “The Lord is
not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward
you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
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Stand in Warfare – Eph 6:10-20.
Outline of Eph
6 :10-24
1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.
4. The Energy, vs. 18-20.
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
Eph 6:11-12; Rom 6:1-14; 11:20; 1 Cor 10:12-13; Col 3:3-5
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
Eph 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you
will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Next, we have the purpose or goal for why we are given the
armor of God, “so that you will
be able to stand firm against.”
In the Greek it begins with the Accusative Preposition of Purpose
PROS that means, “to, in order to,
for the purpose of, etc.” Then we have, “you
will be able,” using the Article HO, “the,”
that goes untranslated, and the Present, Middle, Infinitive of Purpose of
DUNAMAI, δύναμαι that means, “be
able, have power to do, have
capacity for, etc.,” along with the Accusative Personal Pronoun HUMEIS, “you” in the Second Person Plural,
referring to believers.
As noted above, in the NT, DUNAMAI is used to express inherent ability and capacity to
accomplish something in deed, attitude, or thought. In other words, by
receiving the power of God, vs. 10,
you will be powerful, vs.11, in
deed, attitude, or thought.
In this case, with this power, we will be able to, “stand against,” which is STENAI, the
Constative Aorist, Active, Complementary Infinitive HISTEMI, ἵστημι that means, “stand, stand firm, place firmly, establish,
set, or confirm,” along with the Preposition PROS, used this time for
opposition to mean, “against.”
HISTEMI is also used in vs. 13, 14.
“Stand” is a military term for holding on to a position. Therefore, before any
offensive can be launched, one must first of all maintain his own ground.
Therefore, it means to “stand firm, stand against, or stand
your ground.” Paul especially employed it in this sense. In vs. 11 and 13 it means, “stand against” and “remain standing” in battle; in vs. 14, it means “stand ready.” The
point is to stand in God’s strength with God’s armor in the midst of spiritual
warfare. In vs. 14, with the
Imperative, some believe it is the chief admonition of the passage.
In the day of battle, Roman soldiers were to stand their
ground, not retreat. As long as they stood together on a flat, open field and
did not break ranks, their legions were considered virtually invincible.
Nevertheless, “stand firm” contains the idea of being successful in this
spiritual battle of the Angelic Conflict, as in Rom 11:20, believers are urged to continue or to stand “by faith.”
Rom 11:20, “Quite
right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith.
Do not be conceited, but fear.”
Paul also cautioned those who thought they were “standing
firm” on their own, by their own human power and resource, lest they “fall,” 1 Cor 10:12-13.
1 Cor 10:12, “Therefore
let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” He goes on
to say in, vs. 13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to
man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you
are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so
that you will be able to endure it.”
This reminds me of an anecdote once told about church
attendance. It goes as follows:
“A Pastor in a country parish heard that one
of his parishioners was going about announcing that he would no longer be
attending church services, stating that he could communicate just as easily
with God at home or out in the fields with the natural settings as in his place
of worship.
One cold winter evening the pastor called on
this reluctant member of his church for a friendly visit. The two men sat
before the fireplace making small talk, but avoided the issue of church
attendance. After some time, the Pastor took the tongs from the rack next to
the fireplace and pulled a single coal from the fire. He placed the glowing
ember on the hearth.
The two men watched as the coal quickly
ceased burning and turned an ashen gray while the other coals in the fire
continued to burn brightly.
The Pastor remained silent, “I’ll be a church
next Sunday,” said the parishioner.”
Finally, in classical Greek, this term was also used for “raising up an
offering to a god,” and to describe the “setting up” of kings. Therefore, we
could say, to “raise up an offering to our God, against the schemes of the
devil.” In other words, when you stand firm against the flesh, sin, the world,
or Satan, you are actually making an offering of your life to God, which is
Divine Good Production, the fruit of the Spirit. And as you know, all believers
have been established as royalty, being in union with Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2:9. Therefore, this armor,
giving us power to stand, is the function of our Royal Priesthood and Royal
Ambassadorship. And when we do stand, we are functioning in our royalty as
members of the body of Jesus Christ, producing Divine good.
Conclusion, This passage reminds us that Christ has
already triumphed over the powers of darkness, Eph 1:21; 3:10; 4:8, giving us new life and freeing us from the
fear of angelic powers, Eph 2:2; but
we have not yet experienced the full fruits of Christ’s victory, for their
powers still exist, though they are defeated, Eph 4:27; 5:16. Therefore, we will continually battle the powers of
evil until Christ’s return, Rom 6:1-14;
Col 3:3-5.
Now we begin to understand the thing we are able to stand
firm against, which is “the schemes of
the devil,” that is the Accusative of HO METHODEIA with the Genitive of
Possession of HO DIABOLOS.
The Accusative of the noun METHODEIA, μεθοδεία in the Plural means,
“methods, strategies, schemes, craftiness, deceitful planning, and procedures.”
In the unfavorable sense, it
denotes a “trick, stratagem, or wiles,” with intent to lure, deceive, and
ensnare. The noun was not used prior to the NT. It is used in reference to
Satan’s deliberate, skillful, and malicious plan and development of a
“strategy” of error to circumvent, distort, confuse, and deceive believers so
they might be lured away from the true faith.
It is only found here and in Eph 4:11, which we have previously noted.
Eph 4:14, “As a
result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
in deceitful scheming.”
The NT tells us that their schemes include at least the
following: tempting to immorality, 1 Cor
7:5; attempting to deceive, 2 Cor
2:11; 11:13-14; taking advantage of bitterness, Eph 4:27; and hindering ministry, 1 Thes 2:18.
“The devil,” is
from the Adjective, DIABOLOS διάβολος
and is not a name but a title or definition of who Satan is. It can mean,
“slanderous, false accuser, the adversary,” and is somewhat transliterated for
“the devil.” It comes from the Noun DIABOLE that means, “to set against, false
accusations, slander.” It is used in the LXX for the Hebrew word “Satan,” the
adversary of God, Job 1:6-7, 9, 12; Zech
3:1-3.
Comparing 2 Cor 2:11, we are to stand firm against Satan, “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not
ignorant of his schemes, (NOEMA – mind, thoughts, devices, purpose, etc.).”
The strategies of the devil include the various arts and
stratagems which he employs to drag souls down. The devil does not always
attack through obvious head-on assaults, but employs cunning and wily
stratagems designed to catch believers unawares. Paul has already pointed out
some of the ways Satan works. He tries to gain a foothold by tempting us to
speak falsehood, Eph 4:25, have
uncontrolled anger, Eph 4:26, steal Eph 4:28, or share unwholesome talk, Eph 4:29. These are all former ways of
life, the ways we once walked before God made us alive with Christ, Eph 2:1-5.
Satan makes things look attractive and desirable and distort
the truth, camouflaging the evil, as he did with Adam and woman in the Garden, Gen 3. It is easy to encounter open
forces than it is the cunning. That is why we need the weapons of Christian
armor to meet the attempts to draw us into a snare, as much as to meet open
force.
Yet, Satan does not carry on an open warfare. He does not
meet the Christian soldier face to face. He advances covertly; makes his
approaches in darkness; employs cunning rather than power, and seeks rather to
deceive and betray than to vanquish by mere force.
That is why the believer must be constantly armed to meet him whenever the attack is made.
Someone who contends with a visible enemy may feel safe, especially when he
prepares to meet him in the open field. But far different is the case if the
enemy is invisible; if he sneaks up on you slyly and stealthily; if he
practices war only by ambushes and by surprises.
Such is the enemy we
have to contend with. And almost all of our Christian struggle is a warfare
against schemes and stratagems. Satan does not openly appear. He approaches us
not in repulsive forms, but comes to recommend some plausible doctrine, to set
before us some temptation that does not immediately repel us. He presents the
world in an alluring aspect and invites us to its pleasures that seem to be
harmless, yet leads us in indulgence, until we have gone so far that we cannot
retreat.
Satan and his demons are seen as
supernatural powers that control not only the world but the, “present evil age”
cf. Gal 1:4. By Jesus casting out
demons and healing the sick, He signified the overthrow of Satan’s stronghold,
cf. Mark 3:23ff.; Luke 10:17, that
would be won at the Cross.
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A
PERSONAL NOTE FOR YOU
John 6:47 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.”
Notice again
what John 6:47 says, “he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” It doesn’t say, “will have;” it says,
“has.” Therefore, the very moment you believe Jesus Christ’s promise of
everlasting life, you have it, and it can never be lost or taken away from you [John 10:28-29]. Furthermore, the gift
of everlasting life [also called eternal life in Scripture] is available to
every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-18 says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but
he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any
man should boast.”
If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell
you that Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you.
God the Father also loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son
for you by sending Him to the Cross. At the Cross Jesus died in your place.
Taking upon Himself all of your sins and all of my sins. He was judged for our
sins and paid the price for our sins. Therefore, our sins will never be held
against us.
Right
where you are, you now have the opportunity to make the greatest decision in
your life. To accept the free gift of salvation and eternal life by truly
believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and was raised on the third day
as the proof of the promise of eternal life. So right now, you can pause and
reflect on what Christ has done for you and say to the Father:
"Yes
Father, I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ,
died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins."
If you have done that, I Welcome You to the Eternal
Family of God !!!
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Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher: James H. Rickard
23 Messenger Street, Unit 3
Plainville, MA 02762
Copyright © 2001 - 2018.
Property of: James H Rickard Bible Ministries
All Rights Reserved.
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